After more than half a century, swan song for Providence violin shop

By Thomas J. Morgan

Saturday

Aug 31, 2013 at 12:01 AM

PROVIDENCE — Robert Portukalian has spent the last month trucking 500 violins to his home in Warwick, preparing to close down his Providence Violin Shop at 1279 North Main St. after a run of more than...

PROVIDENCE — Robert Portukalian has spent the last month trucking 500 violins to his home in Warwick, preparing to close down his Providence Violin Shop at 1279 North Main St. after a run of more than 50 years.

Saturday was to be the shop’s last day.

Portukalian’s name may not be a household word, but he is a nationally known expert in the appraisal and reconditioning of violins, a craft he got into almost by accident. His first interest in the instrument came when he started playing it at the age of 9 in his hometown of Chelsea, Mass.

He was drafted into the Army in World War II, but the war ended while he was still in boot camp. He later was stationed as part of the occupation forces in Germany.

When Portukalian got out of the Army, his mother told him there was a demand for kitchens.

“I did a lot of work on Dean Estates,” he said. “Almost every house up there I put a kitchen in there. So I had an interest in kitchens and the violin business. One thing led to another and I got into the violin business, and I was doing both. Next thing, I had to choose.”

“I gave that up and went all violin,” he said.

“When I was more active I had very nice violins,” he said. “The prices were high. The next thing I knew I was traveling. That was one of the key reasons I gave up kitchens — traveling to St. Louis, the West Coast, Chicago — to the top dealers, and selling violins to them.”

Portukalian, now 86, opened up a shop on Washington Street, not far from what today is Crossroads Rhode Island but then was the Providence YMCA. From there he shifted to North Main Street, where a drive-in movie theater still operated. He watched as a Sears, Roebuck store opened up across the street nearly 60 years ago, and then watched as it was boarded up a few years ago. The drive-in is gone, too.

Violins can say a lot to a practiced eye.

“I could tell looking at a violin who made it,” he said. “After a while you become an expert.”

Portukalian said he has handled rare violins over the years, but never dealt with a Stradivarius.

“There’s a lot of copies” of the “Strad,” as he put it. “They’re supposed to have a label inside saying it’s a copy. But people get confused. Copies cause a lot of problems, because the owner did not know himself it was a copy when he got it cheap. The real Strads are very rare today. They’re like people — they wear out after a while and become museum pieces.”

The Germans make the best copies today, he said. “I can see why Strads are that expensive. It’s easier to play on, a marvelous tone. Most professional players cannot afford it. They go into the millions.”

Portukalian did not restrict his business to violins, as he also dealt with other stringed instruments.

“Violas, I do some,” he said. “Cellos, most of the time I have only done repairs on them. Double basses? Oh my God! I don’t even want to see them. They’re huge.”

Much of Portukalian’s business came in renting violins to music students, a practice he intends to continue.

“I love violins because I love kids,” he said. “I’ve always had school rentals. You can’t be a child at 5 and play a trumpet. Trumpets are not made small and get bigger and bigger. Any brass or woodwind instruments, the parents wait until the child is big enough to handle it. But you can get a tiny violin to start with. They love it. The parents like it.”

Violins, it seems, start with one-eighth size to three-quarter size. After that comes full size.

As far as retirement, he said, “They think I’m retiring. Not yet. I don’t manufacture, I’m not a Walmart type of store. I don’t advertise or solicit. I major in rentals. That’s what I’m still going to do.

“I’m 86 and I’m still working. I don’t know why people quit.”

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